


The Intern

by alenenb



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-03-07 01:53:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18863350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alenenb/pseuds/alenenb
Summary: Tony thought an intern was supposed to bring something new to the table, not a good chunk of his past.AKATony gains another sonAKAThe Unstoppable Duo rain hell on Tony





	1. Chapter 1

_“Sir, a reminder that your new intern will be arriving tomorrow.”_

Tony passed off JARVIS’ reminder with a grunt as he’s concentrated on fixing something in his suit. Peter’s reaction was the polar opposite.

“New intern?! Who? Since when? Do I know them? Do they go to my school or are they out of state? Wait, are they coming from another country?? Or-”

“Peter, do you want your questions answered or not?” Tony asks, looking at him from across the lab.

“Sorry Mr. Stark,” Peter muttered, and worked down on his new web shooters he was working on. The kid actually looked guilty. Damn it.

Tony sighed, “It’s fine, forget it. It’s just a temp, nothing to worry about.” He got back to his work.

“Oh come on, you can’t just leave me with that!” Peter walked up to Tony and sat on a stool a few feet away from him.

Tony sighed. The kids damn puppy eyes. “Fine. Pepper insisted that I should have more interns, y’know, to give more kids ‘opportunity’ and ‘exposure’. “ He did air quotes. “So I agreed, cuz it’s Pepper, and she created this scholarship thing where every few months a-“

 _“Every four months sir,”_ JARVIS cut in.

“-a new intern comes in and, I don’t know, helps out. I doubt they’re geniuses though, they’ll probably just be organizing papers for Pepper or getting me coffee or something.” Tony shrugged as if he couldn’t have cared less. “I don’t know how long this will last for, I doubt for long since there’s so many damn secrets we have to keep here to not cause trouble.”

“Do you know how old the intern is?” Peter asked, hopeful that he can maybe make a new friend.

JARVIS answers this time, _“There is no age limit for who can apply for the scholarship, but the minimum age is 15 years old, and must be at least a sophomore in high school. Your first intern-“_

“Yeah yeah, we can work our the details tomorrow,” Tony interrupted with a wave of his hand.

A few minutes of silence passed when JARVIS spoke again, _“Sir, it is 11 o’clock.”_

“So?”

_“You asked me to remind you when the time reads 11 o’clock PM.”_

“Why? I can read the clock, I have eyes.” Sometimes JARVIS can give tony headaches. He says shit Tony doesn’t even remember asking him to do.

_“You asked me to remind you when the time is 11 o’clock PM because you declared it is Peter’s bed time on school nights.”_

_Shit._ “Kid go to bed.”

“But Mr. Stark-“

“Hey,” Tony said firmly, but with a hint of affection. What can he say, he has a soft spot for the kid. And he does _not_ want to end up like his father. He looked him in the eye. “It’s a school night. Remember what we agreed on. May already said you can sleep here for the weekend, including today. Now come on, one more school day till the weekend.”

Peter finally sighed. “Fine. Good night Mr. Stark.”

“G’nite kid,” said Tony as Peter walked out of the lab.

Tony already forgot about tomorrow’s internship by the time Peter fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone’s seen Avengers tower. It’s picture has been on the news, in magazines, news papers, Google. But it’s not the same as seeing it in person. Avengers tower is _tall_. Harley couldn’t help but stare up at it for a few more seconds until he took a deep breath and walked through the front glass doors.

Harley straightened his back and made sure to hide the grin and glare that’s usually plastered on his face, just like his ma taught him. He was walking into rich territory, so he may as well act the part. He wouldn’t want to get kicked out after being in the building for five seconds.

It was his first time out of his home state, but Harley couldn’t lie if he told you he was buzzing with excitement. It’s not like he gets to travel often. And yeah, of course he loves his ma and sister to death, it’s just the fact that being a senior and so close to freedom is killing him. Yes, Rose Hill was his home, but he needed a breather.

And what a better breather than New York City.

He approached the expensive looking lady at the front desk. “Um, my name is Harley Keener. I’m the new intern.”

She glanced up at Harley for half a second before giving her attention back to her monitor.

“Mrs. Potts and Mr. Stark will be down here in a minute. Please take a seat.”

So, Harley took a seat and double checked if he had all his luggage. And the sandwich. Can’t forget the sandwich. _Shit_. _I'm seeing Tony this soon? I thought I’d at least have a few hours to settle in. Does Tony even remember me? Not that it matters. I'm used to it. Oh shit. The elevator door opened._

Out of the elevator walked _the_ Pepper Potts and Tony Stark. Pepper was just like how the rest of the world saw her. Dressed right out of a magazine, perfect smile on her face, ready for business. Tony, meanwhile, was wearing a T-shirt and hasn’t looked up from his StarkPad since he walked out of the elevator. Figures.

Pepper spotted Harley when he stood up and her face lit up. They approached him and Pepper stuck out her hand. “Hello, you must be the new intern. I’m Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries.”

Okay, she’s even more perfect in person.

She then gestures to Tony. “And this is Tony Stark, as you probably already know.”

“Yeah, ‘Iron Man, genius, it’s an honor to meet you’, just get it out of your system.” He still hasn’t looked up from his StarkPad. _This is the same old Tony I remember_ , thought Harley, _doesn't give a rats ass, probably doesn't remember me, whatever._

Pepper gave Tony a glare that he didn’t notice. “Tony, are we really doing this now?” she asked through her teeth.

Finally, Tony sighed and actually acknowledged Harley. “Hello, new intern. Welcome to Stark Industries, Mr....” He started to look up at the person he was talking to.

“Harley Keener.”

Tony’s head snapped up at the name, and took in Harley's face for a good two seconds. Once it clicked, Tony's eyebrows shot up and his mouth hung open. Harley raised an eyebrow and waited. That smirk decided to sneak back on his face, the one Tony hasn’t seen for six years.

“ _Kid?_   Tennessee kid? You- _Harley??_ ” For once in his life, Tony almost seemed to be at a loss for words. Harley was pretty amused to say the least.

Harley grinned, "What's up old man?"

Tony held up a finger, acting overly offended, "You don't get to call me old."

Harley was about to snap something back when Pepper interrupted. “I’m sorry, am I missing something here?” She looked between the two, confused as ever.

“We, uh... know each other.” Tony turned to look at Pepper. “It's kinda a long story, I’ll tell you later ok? I promise.”

Pepper just sighed. “Alright, I have a meeting in ten, I’ll see you in a bit. It was very nice meeting you Harley.” Pepper then walked to the elevator and the doors shut.

When Tony looked at Harley this time, his face just fell. “You’re taller than me. Since when are you taller than me? You don’t get to be taller than me.”

Harley just shrugged. “I’m a growing boy, Stark.”

Tony squinted his eyes. “How old are you?”

“Seventeen.”

“Uhh no you're not, you are a little eleven year old boy who shoots potatoes until I say so.”

"Time flies, old man."

Tony sighed, “Shoot. I have to take you upstairs now, don't I?” They were walking to the elevators when Tony spoke loudly to no one. “JARVIS, give Harley Keener top clearance level, access to all floors.”

“Yes sir,” JARVIS responded.

 _Top clearance?_ “What? Why?”

The elevator doors closed. Tony didn’t answer and instead spoke to JARVIS again. “Penthouse level.” The elevator started moving.

Harley spoke first, "You seemed surprised to see me."

"What do you mean? I totally knew you were coming, don't you have to put your name on the application?"

Harley rolled his eyes, "As if you actually read all that."

"Uhh of course I did? It's _my_ scholarship."

Harley raised an eyebrow at Tony.

Tony sighed, "That Pepper made- you know what that's not important."

The elevator doors opened and they walked into a large room with couches and a _giant_ flatscreen TV, much bigger than what Harley owned. The room was connected to an open kitchen. The entire room alone was probably bigger than Harley's house. 

"This," Tony spread out his arms, "is the common room. JARVIS can show you to your room, and if you have any more questions, ask him. I will be in my lab." And just like that, Tony was gone.

"Ohhhkayy then." Harley decided to take this time for a personal tour. The common room looked modern, but homey. Blankets and pillows were strewn across the couches, and there was a chemistry textbook on the coffee table. Harley knows Tony wouldn't need a textbook for anything, so he's left to wonder who the textbook belongs to. He walked over to the kitchen area. A bowl of fruit was on the counter, next to a separate bowl of plums. Harley opened the cabinets and realized he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. He grabbed a bag of chips and decided to head to his room.

 _"Your room is down the corridor and to the right. You will be staying in the second room on the left."_ JARVIS informed Harley.

"Thanks JARVIS," said Harley, remembering the AI from when Tony had his unexpected visit. A question popped up in his head. "JARVIS, do the Avengers live here?"

_"The Avengers have a separate floor for their quarters. They use the facility when needed, however, it is unsure when or who pays their unexpected visits. I am afraid no Avengers other than Tony are in the building at the moment."_

After Harley dragged his luggage to his room, which was only a duffel bag and a large suitcase (because it's not like he had much from home to bring), he decided to find Tony. He took his bag of chips and the sandwich and walked back into the common room, only to stop short. He had no idea where to go from here. 

 _"Sir's lab is one level below. Only those who he have given personal access to have access to the lab."_   The elevator doors opened in front of Harley, and he stepped in. 

* * *

"Woah." That's the only word that comes to mind when Harley walks into Tony's lab. The place was _huge_. And the tech made Harley's workshop look like an old broom closet. Super suits lined the walls, there were at least five robots that Harley could count, and a bunch of holographic screens were projected into thin air. Harley was going to love this.

"Hey kid," said Tony, buried in his work. "What brings you down here?"

Harley walked up to him and held up the wrapped sandwich. "I got your sandwich. Tuna, right?"

Tony looked up at the sandwich. "If I knew it would take you six years, I honestly wouldn't have asked for it."

"Fine, take it or leave it." Harley pulled the sandwich back when Tony snatched it out of his hand.

"Good to know you're still a little shit, Keener," said Tony as he unwrapped the sandwich.

"Is that your way of saying thank you?" Harley asked with a smirk.

Tony just looked him in the eye and took a bite out of the sandwich. Then he went back to work.

"So," said Harley to break the awkward silence. "What do you need me to do?"

Tony looked up at him like he spoke gibberish. "What?"

"I'm your intern? Don't interns do stuff?" 

"Oh yeah, intern. Uhh..." Tony looked around like he was looking for something, then his eyed landed on his sandwich. "Well you got me a sandwich. That's an intern thing, right? So you're done." Tony went back to his work.

Harley got up and started to walk around the lab when his stomach growled, loud. He remembered he brought his bag of chips and opened them. Tony must have heard Harley's stomach because he asked, "Whatcha eatin'?"

Harley ate a chip. "My lunch."

Tony looked at the small bag of chips Harley was holding. "When's the last time you ate, kid?"

"Uhh, like, five-ish hours ago, I dunno. Breakfast." Harley shrugged and ate another chip. To his slight surprise, Tony put whatever he was working on down and stood up.

"Nuh uh, you're not eating that for lunch. Come on, let's get you real food." He started making his way to the elevator with a confused Harley following him.

"Since when do you care about my eating habits?" _Since when does he care this much about me?_

"You're a growing boy, you said it yourself kid." The elevator opened to the common room and Tony headed to the fridge. "Hey, why did you apply for this thing anyway? You know you could've just called if you wanted to visit."

Harley stopped short. "Um, I didn't think you'd remember me, honestly."

"Well I remembered your name, didn't I?"

Harley didn't know how to respond. Is Tony saying he _actually_ remembered who he was, after six years? A little random kid he knew for a couple days? He was just hear to intern, to have something on his resume, and Tony's giving him full access to the tower and caring about what he's eating? Who was he to Tony for him to care this much?

"Tony, why are you doing this?" Harley waited for Tony to turn and look at his face.

"What do you mean kid?"

"I mean," Harley gestured to the fridge. "You're treating me like I'm your kid, or some shit. What the fuck did I do? I'm just a fucking intern and you're giving me VIP."

Tony just looked confused at Harley's outburst. "I don't see why that's something to complain about." He studied Harley's face for a few seconds. "You okay kid?"

Harley could feel his nerves starting to work up. He never got like this, so why now? Why does he care so fucking much? He's not supposed to care. Because Tony's not supposed to care about him. He has no reason to. "See? That. Why do you care? I was just a little kid that happened to live in the shit-hole house you broke into, it's not like I'm anything special to you." He nervously ran his hand through his hair.

Tony approached him, and Harley thinks he sees actual concern on his face. "Woah, kid, where is this coming from?"

"I don't get it! It's not like you checked in with me over the past six fucking years, so why are you treating me like this now?"

Tony took a moment to think of what to say. "Harley I care about y-"

Harley's eyes were starting to sting. "You care? Why would you care about me? You have so much more important shit that you care about, why would I, a random kid from Bumfuck, Tennessee, be _anywhere_ on that list?" 

If you looked closely, you could notice the hurt in Tony's eyes, but Harley's vision was starting to become too blurry to notice.

"You know what? I think I get it. You're giving me all this as if it could make up for being a dick to an eleven year old kid- god why am I even mad? You act like a dick to everyone, how would you know how to act around kids? Why would you even _care_ about kids? You _left_ me, just like my dad did, so why would you FUCKING CARE?"

Tony stood there, shocked. Harley waited, waited for Tony to say something, _anything_. He wanted Tony to give some bullshit excuse, or call him for being a pussy again. But he didn't do that. Instead, Tony just walked up and pulled Harley into a hug. Harley didn't know what to do until he heard Tony whisper something he didn't expect to hear.

"I'm so sorry."

Harley hugged back. He let the tears fall. 

"You're such a great kid, you know that? You're so smart and caring, whether you see it in yourself or not. I wouldn't have made it out of Tennessee without you, kid."

Harley let that sink in. "I don't even know why I'm bullshitting about this. I know you weren't actually being a dick to me."

Tony chuckled. "Yeah, but you were right. I shouldn't have treated a kid like that. You were a tough one though, I can't lie."

Harley pulled away from the hug. "You've gotten soft, old man. Who are you and what have you done with Tony Stark?"

"It's still me, asshole. You out of all people should be able to tell. You know why? _Cuz we're connected_." It was Tony's turn to smirk.

"If we're connected then you should be able to tell that I'm still starving," Harley reminded Tony. As if on cue, Harley's stomach growled again.

Tony just stood in front of him and crossed his arms. "You're seventeen, right? Aren't you old enough to get your own food, or am I forgetting something here?" 

Harley made sure Tony could see him roll his eyes as he walked to the fridge. "You know what?" said Tony. "How do you feel about ordering a pizza? I can't imagine what your Tennessee pizza tastes like. Do you even have pizza where you live? Or do you just eat the vegetables you pick from your farm every morning?"

"Tony, you've been to my town, and you know we have pizza."

"Uh, I'm talking about New York pizza here. Prepare your tastebuds kid, you're never gonna want to leave the city again." Tony proceeded to order a pizza through JARVIS, and for the first time since he left home, Harley didn't feel like a stranger anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, Tony was right. Not that Harley was ever going to admit that to him. New York pizza was fucking _good_. He took a bite into his fifth slice as his eyes were switching from the TV and the chemistry book that's been sitting on the coffee table, now open in his lap. Harley was never a chemistry person himself, physics and mechanics were more his forte. But, he was bored, and people tend to become desperate when they're bored.

Tony had told him to relax and eat since he just got here, and that he’ll call him down if he needed anything. Harley didn’t complain. He’s been watching How It’s Made for the past hour which was one of his favorite pass-time shows. He’s going to be living with Tony and Pepper for the next four months, so he might as well get comfortable. This was going to be an interesting four months.

Harley heard the elevator door open and was thinking of teasing Tony for checking up on him every half hour. But, before he could say anything, a voice that was _not_ Tony spoke first.

"Hey Mr. Stark, I got some new ideas for the web shooters......" Peter's voice faltered when he laid eyes on the kid that was _not_ Tony. "You're.. not Mr. Stark. Wait, are you the new intern?? Hi I'm Peter!" He set down his school backpack and walked up to a slouching Harley and stuck his hand out to shake.

Okay, Tony said nothing about any kid. "Harley..." he shook Peter's hand hesitantly.

Peter must’ve picked up on the confusion on Harley’s face because he said, “Did Mr. Stark not tell you about me? I’m his intern. Or, other intern I guess, since you’re here now. Are you reading my chemistry book?”

Harley was still processing Peter’s presence as he looked at the chemistry book and back up to Peter. “This is yours? I knew Tony wouldn’t want anything to do with physical textbooks, much less need one. It was just on the table. And I was bored.”

Peter raised his eyebrows. “You were reading my chemistry textbook... because you were bored?”

Harley shrugged and took another bite of his pizza. “Not the biggest fan of chem but what else was I gonna do?”

“Are you kidding? Chem’s my favorite subject and even _I_ wouldn’t want to read that in my spare time. Hey can I have a slice?” Peter pointed to the half of a pizza in the box.

”Be my guest dude, I’m full anyways.” Harley walked over to the kitchen sink to wash his hands.

”Oh yeah, do you happen to know where Mr. Stark is?”

Harley opened his mouth to answer but JARVIS beat him to the punch, _“Sir is currently working in his lab. He is aware that you are here, Peter, and wanted to tell you to come to his lab when you can.”_

”Thanks, JARV,” Peter said in between bites of his pizza. He looked at Harley. “Oh, that’s JARVIS, the building’s AI, or Artificial Intelligence. He knows, like, everything.”

Harley nodded, “Yeah, I know.”

Peter raised his eyebrows. “Tony introduced you two already? When did you get here? Do you live in the city or are you out of state?”

Jeez, this kid asked a lot of questions. ”I’m from Tennessee and I got here about two hours ago. And no, Tony didn’t introduce JARVIS to me, I kinda know Tony from a while back.”

”What?? He’s never mentioned you,” Peter exclaimed as he grabbed his second slice.

“Pretty sure the old man mostly forgot about me. I was eleven and he broke into my basement because his suit was broken. I happened to catch him and threaten to shoot him with a potato gun. The rest is history.”

Peter stopped chewing. “Why was he in Tennessee?”

_“Sir would like to notify Peter to come to the lab now. He says those web shooters aren’t going to repair themselves.”_

”Oh shoot! I forgot.” Peter started heading to the elevator when he stopped and looked behind him at Harley. “You coming? You said you’re bored, right?”

Harley resisted the urge to continue another episode of How It’s Made and joined Peter in the elevator.

”Earlier, did JARVIS say web shooters? As in Spider-Man?”

Peter hesitates for a split second, like he was caught off guard, but recovered quickly. “Uh.. yeah, I help work on, uh, Spider-Man’s shooters, and some other Avengers’ stuff too, like Hawkeye. And like, other stuff.”

Hmm..... “What other stuff?”

”Oh y’know, boring intern stuff.” The elevator doors opened. “Uh, let’s go, Mr. Stark is waiting for us.” Peter walked a little too quickly out of the elevator and left Harley in tow. Peter was hiding _something_ , Harley knew it. And he was determined to find out what.

”Hi Mr. Stark!” Peter cheerfully greeted as he walked into the lab.

Tony looked up to acknowledge Peter before looking down again. “Hey kid, how was school?”

Peter spilled himself into a swivel chair next to what seemed to be Peter’s table. “It was fine. We had a pop quiz in pre-calc, which was easy, well for me anyway. I got 100.”

Harley squinted his eyes between the two. Was this happening? Peter.... Harley never knew. A thought struck him. Harley knew what he was hiding. He had to be. 

After all these years, Harley still didn’t know how to keep his trap shut. “Hey Tony, you never told me you had a son all this time.”

Peter and Tony stared at Harley on high alert. 

“A whAT?” “I’m not his son!” Tony and Peter yelled at the same time.

”Dude, I’m just his intern.” Peter sounded like he’s had to justify himself on the topic many times before.

”Oh... wait really?”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m not his son. Wait, aren’t you his son?”

”What?!” Now Tony and Harley spoke in unison.

Peter looked at Tony. “Harley said you found him in Tennessee. I assumed you like found your long lost son or something and visited him.”

”Peter I told you his suit was broken.”

Peter looked at Harley innocently. “I thought that was just a cover up.”

Tony said nothing. He looked from Peter to Harley and then leaned his elbows on the desk, resting his face in his hands. “You two just met and you’re already giving me a headache.”

Peter just sighed like he was used to Tony having an existential crisis and looked at Harley. “So, I guess neither of us are biologically related to Tony Stark, as far as we know.” He swivels over to another table full of gadgets and tools. “Hey, you wanna see what I’m working on?”

Oh, this was going to be a _very_ interesting four months. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The boys finally meet!
> 
> Also I loved watching How It’s Made on the science channel when I was younger and I still watch it occasionally on YouTube, that shit geeks.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda a filler chapter sorry, but it's still content right? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

It's too hot. He stuck his feet out. Now his torso is sweating while his feet are freezing. Maybe just one leg? Nope. Now the pillow felt too soft. What about getting rid of the whole blanket? The mattress was too firm. He couldn't do this.

Harley wasn't a troubled sleeper. It's just the fact that he never really travelled much out of his hometown, and therefore never really left the comfort and familiarity of his own bed. Hopefully he'll get over it within a few nights, he doesn't want to become an insomniac for four months. Especially when he had to go to _school_. Over their first "family dinner", as Pepper called it, Tony informed Harley that he'd be going to school with Peter, who happened to be in the same grade as him. Now Harley didn't really have anything against Peter, other than the fact that he was a high school student, no, almost college student, and still played with Star Wars Lego sets (really, Parker?) And as far as Harley could tell, Peter had nothing against him. That didn't seem to matter, however, when both boys let out an outburst immediately after Tony said the news. "Just because you're interning and staying with me for half of your last school year doesn't mean you get to skip it," he told Harley, and the look on Pepper's face told him not to bother arguing, it had been done already.

Now it's god knows what hour, Harley risked checking the clock. _2:17 AM_. Damn it. Harley knew it was the weekend, but he had been kind of tired from traveling, and it's not like he's just going to lounge and watch TV all day tomorrow. He had an internship to do, and for that Harley needed his beauty sleep. He knew he wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon, so he got out of bed to steal a midnight snack from the common room. But when Harley opened his bedroom door, he stopped. The door across from him was half open, and he could see Peter laying on his back on the floor with his hands resting on his belly, his head closest to the door. He could hear faint piano playing coming from his room. Peter must've somehow noticed Harley's movement because he looked up to see an upside-down Harley opposite of his doorway.

"Hey," Peter said, breaking the beat of silence. "Can't sleep?"

"Uh, yeah," Harley spoke softly, he didn't to disturb Tony or Pepper. 

"Me neither, wanna join me?" Peter asked. Eh, why not? Harley took a few steps, glancing at Tony and Pepper's door farther down the hall.

"Oh, don't worry about making noise. The walls are pretty thick," Peter ensured, even though he still kept his voice low. Harley stepped into Peter's room, which was dimly lit, and laid down to the left of him on the carpeted floor. He rested his right hand on his belly and his left under his head. They just laid there, listening to the soft sweet piano coming from around the room.

After a few minutes, Peter spoke again. "Whenever I can't sleep, I just listen to this. It helps calm my nerves," he said, and then added softly, "Mr. Stark showed me. Said it helped him too."

A beat passed, then, "I'm not a great sleeper when it's my first night in a new place, so.."

"Yeah, I get that," said Peter. Harley was expecting Peter to talk about why he couldn't sleep, but he didn't. Harley had the urge to pry because one would say he's a curious individual and usually speaks before he thinks, but he just met the kid, he didn't want to get off to a bad start by making him reveal something personal.

"You know," said Peter a couple songs later, "Mr. Stark knows how to play piano. He doesn't play that often though, and when he does, it's when he's alone. Or, thinks he's alone."

Harley turned his head to look at Peter and raised his eyebrow, urging him to continue.

"I caught him once, he was playing this song. He didn't notice me though, I stayed right outside of the doorway. So he doesn't know I know."

Harley didn't know that about Tony. Although, he figured most people didn't. It got him thinking. Did Tony know how to play when he met Harley? Or was it like a childhood thing. What else didn’t he know about Tony?

Harley's eyelids started drooping, but he caught himself before he could fully drift off. He groggily sat up to look at the digital clock on Peter's nightstand. _2:51 AM_.

"Um," Harley looked down at Peter, who's eyelids were half closed. "I'm gonna go back to my room. Uh, thanks, for this. It helped."

"Mmm no problem," Peter responded. "If you want, both of us can leave our doors open, so we can both hear the music. Uh, my aunt and I do that sometimes, if one or both of us can't sleep, we leave our doors open so we can, uh, acknowledge each other's presence? I guess? Does that sound weird? I don't know, forget it."

That’s right, Peter lived with his aunt. Harley remembered it being mentioned during dinner when Peter told Harley he was staying for the weekend. "No, I mean, that sounds nice, actually." Harley pushed himself up and stopped at the doorway of Peter's room, turning around. "G'nite Peter."

"G'nite Harley," Peter mumbled.

Harley got back into bed, leaving his door half open. His pillow and blanket felt just the right amount of comfort as he sunk into his bed, the sound of piano drifting him off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Ah, the weekend.

No alarms, or waking up early. You just took your time, sleeping in for hours, not having to change into uncomfortable clothes to go out in public, and of course, _no school_.

So Harley relished his time, emerging from his room in his pajama shirt and sweatpants at 11:30am, well rested, comfortable, not having to fix his bed head. He expected to walk into the common room either empty or already occupied by the rest of the buildings residence, already dressed and finished breakfast, asking why Harley got out of bed so late.

Instead, Harley was greeted by a stranger drinking right out of Stark's coffee pot.

"Uhhh," Harley stopped short, not sure what to do. He doubts JARVIS would let a stranger into the Avengers Tower without sounding some sort of alarm. Then again, maybe the alarm was silent, and security or Tony was already on his way. But nothing was happening, and Harley doesn't know how long the man has been here. This was _not_ how Harley wanted to spend his Saturday morning.

"Hey!" Harley called out, expecting the man to at least jump and turn around, considering he hasn't noticed Harley yet. No answer. Harley observed the man more. He was wearing a tattered purple t-shirt, black boxers with purple circles printed on them, and had cuts and bandages all over his arms, legs, and ripped through his shirt.

"Hey!" Harley called out again, and again received no answer. Was he just ignoring Harley? A stranger, who broke into the tower, really decided to have the _audacity?_

So, naturally, Harley approached the man and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Guh!" Coffee spilled out of the mans mouth back into the pot as he turned around to face the strange kid who tapped his shoulder. He gave Harley a once over, and before he could say anything, Harley opened his mouth again.

"Are you deaf or something? I yelled at you like twice and you just ignored me. Who are you?"

The man, looking tired and confused, finally responded (a little too loud), "Who are you? And I _am_ deaf, thank you very much."

Harley's confusion must've been starting to show on his face because the man seemed to realize something and reached for the chest pocket on his t-shirt. He pulled out two purple gadgets and put them around his ears.

"Sorry kid," the man said now at a more reasonable volume, "I forget to put my aids in sometimes."

What the hell. He's actually deaf? Shit. Wait.. is he-? Purple. Harley noticed the circles on the mans boxers are actually small targets. _Shit_.

Harley brought his hands up to his face. "Oh god, you're Hawkeye."

Hawkeye held out his hands as if he was displaying himself, coffee pot still in hand. "The one and only. And the name's Clint." He took another swig of coffee. "You Stark's new long lost kid or something? I've never seen you before. And I doubt you broke into the tower to steal shit or whatever. You don't look the type."

Harley crossed his arms. "Are you underestimating me?"

Clint huffed out a chuckle through his nose. "Smug, too. Must be in the Stark genes."

"What? Oh g- I'm not Tony's kid! I'm interning here."

"Yeahh, that's what the other kid said too. Personally? I'm not buyin' it." Clint looked at his wrist that had no watch on it. "Oh boy, look at the time. I should get going."

Harley just watched helplessly as Clint set the coffee pot back in the machine, climbed on top of the kitchen cabinets, popped open the vent cover, and pulled himself into the vent. He gave Harley a wink right before he placed the cover back on, and disappeared.

"It's too fucking early for this," Harley whined.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Harley was enjoying a fresh bowl of Apple Jacks (thank god Tony owns some _real_ cereal, probably courtesy of Peter). He was halfway done with his second bowl when two other men, in t-shirts and messy hair, walked into the room and stopped short at the sight of Harley, tense.

Harley's spoon stopped halfway to his open mouth when he saw who just walked into the common room. 

"C-Captain America....." His eyes moved to the dark haired man next to him, taking in the metal arm. "You're,, the Winter Soldier..."

"JARVIS?" Steve's "Captain America" voice boomed in the quiet room.

_"No need to be alarmed, Captain. Harley Keener is a temporary intern for Stark Industries and Tony Stark. He will reside in the tower for four months, starting yesterday."_

Steve's shoulders visibly relaxed when Harley was determined to not be a threat, and Bucky walked over to the fridge.

Harley hadn't moved.

"You're cereal's gonna get soggy," said Steve as he walked over to Bucky, who was browsing through the fridge.

"Hi," was the only thing Harley could spit out.

Steve chuckled. "This the first time you're in New York City, kid?"

Harley finally snapped out of it. He stuffed the spoon of cereal in his mouth. "What's that gotta do with anything?"

Steve pulled out a chair and shrugged, sitting down a few seats across from Harley. "You seemed pretty surprised to see an Avenger."

"And you seemed pretty surprised to see me," responded Harley, munching on another spoonful of cereal.

Steve shrugged, "Well, we didn't know who you were or that you were here."

"Neither did I," said Harley.

Steve sighed and looked at Bucky for something like backup, but Bucky only provided a raise of his eyebrows and head shrug, signaling "He has a point." Steve's response was just glaring back at him, which drew out a chuckle from Bucky who then closed the fridge and started to walk over to the coffee maker. He was about to pour some in a mug when Harley remembered who else was in the kitchen earlier.

"Hawkeye spit in that," Harley told Bucky with a mouthful of Apple Jacks.

Before Harley finished his sentence, Bucky set down, or more like slammed, the pot on the counter. "Of course he did," he muttered to himself through his breath.

"So," started Harley, "Do you guys always drop by in the middle of the night, or do you save your surprise visits for the weekends?"

"Yeah," Steve chuckled, "We just got back from a two week mission. If that wasn't the case, we'd be up by five in the morning."

"You mean _you'd_ be up at five in the morning," snorted Bucky who was making a fresh pot of coffee.

"Who else is here?" asked Harley.

"Well, besides Bucky and I, Clint- Hawkeye, and Natasha- Black Widow should be here too, they were on the mission with us. I'm assuming you've met Clint already."

"If you could call it that," muttered Harley.

"Nat's probably sleeping," inputted Bucky. He was leaning his back to the counter, arms crossed. "When she's off duty, she listens to no one."

"And what was your mission about?" Harley asked, putting on his fakest innocent act he could.

"Sorry kid," said Steve. "That's classified."

Steve, Bucky, and Harley's superhero conversation was interrupted by JARVIS.

_"Boss has a message for Harley, and I quote, 'Get your ass down to the lab or I will set your alarm to six AM every weekend.'"_

Harley ignored Steve's raised eyebrow and responded to the AI with his mouth full, "Tell him he can't interrupt the most important meal of the day."

After a pause, JARVIS said, _"Boss would like to tell Harley that if he checked the time, he would know that his meal no longer counts as breakfast. And he says his alarm is now at five AM."_

Harley groaned loudly, drawing stares from Bucky and Steve. After seeing he had about one more spoonful left of cereal, he gave up and said, "Tell him I'll be down there in a minute." Then he grinned. "And tell him that if he ever sets an alarm for me before 9:30, I'll post videos of him playing piano on YouTube that Peter recorded."

To Harley's wonderful luck, Peter walked into the common room right as he finished his sentence. He was already dressed and looked like he just came back from doing something active outside, with messed up hair and slightly rosy cheeks. He looked at Harley when Harley said his name. "What did I record?"

Harley quickly shoved the last of his cereal in his mouth, set his bowl in the sink, and practically ran to the elevator. "What did you do? Harley!" Harley shoved his hands in his pockets and grinned at Peter as the elevator doors closed.

"What the-" Peter noticed who else was in the room. "Oh what- hi! Uh, when did you guys get here?"

"Last night," answered Bucky, drinking from his fresh mug of coffee. "You out swingin' this morning?"

"Y-yeah, patrol. Don't tell Harley though!" he added hastily. "I haven't told him yet."

Steve winked at Peter. "Don't worry, we'll let the others know. Weren't you after him just now?"

Peter went into alert again. "Oh yeah! Bye guys, see you later, glad you're back!" Peter rushed to the elevator and disappeared to the lab.

Steve just sighed when Peter left the common room. "So, whadya think of him?" He looked up at Bucky who set a mug of coffee in front of Steve.

"Harley?" Bucky asked, drinking from his own mug. "I dunno. At first I thought he was as bad as you, but I think he just might be worse."

Steve's words were muffled as he held up his mug to his mouth. "Oh, shut up."

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

“Do I seriously have five classes with you?” Harley was looking at his class schedule that he just picked up from the front office. Tony insisted that the both of them get to school early so Peter could show Harley around and where his classes were located. Yeah, that meant they both had to wake up at 5:30 am. Harley slept in of course, until JARVIS blasted AC/DC through the surround sound speakers that were implanted in Harley’s room until he was fully dressed. Now it was 30 minutes before the first period bell rings, and students were just starting to come in.

”Oh, you do? Sweet!” said Peter, leaning to look at the piece of paper in Harley’s hands. “Most of my classes are with my friends Ned and MJ, so you’ll get to hang out with us more than I thought.”

”Huh,” muttered Harley as they walked down the hall. He forgot about the making new friends part.

”Don’t worry,” said Peter, as if reading his mind. “They’re really cool. Ned’s like, an expert at computers. And MJ is like super smart, and cool, and funny but in like a dark way, and she loves history-“

Peter cut off short when he looked at Harley, who was staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

”Uh, never mind. You’ll get to meet them. I haven’t told them about you either, so they’re in for a surprise today. Hey, here’s our chemistry class.”

Peter’s cheeks flushed a light shade of pink. Uh oh. 

“So, MJ sounds pretty cool,” said Harley, peeking into the classroom. “What else is she like?”

”Uh, I mean she’s just cool. So is Ned. You’ll meet them later, hey! We all have lunch together.”

Peter was swerving around the subject as hard as a dog driving a car on the highway. Harley decided to drop it for now, but boy, was he going to have fun when he met MJ.

After Peter showed Harley where the rest of his classes were, he brought him to his first period class, English. 

“So,, I’ll see you later. Let me know if you need anything, and, oh! I think Ned’s in this class, I’ll let him know if I find him, although he’s probably already in there. Okay, uh, bye!” Peter waved and ran down the hall.

The bell’s supposed to ring in a couple minutes, but when Harley walked into class, everyone was already in their seats. 

 _I guess no one’s late in this school_ , Harley thought. Unlike his small town public school, where kids come to class halfway in with a bag of fast food.

After the teacher introduced Harley to the class, she assigned him a seat next to this big Asian kid. And to Harley’s luck of “lying low”, he started talking right when Harley sat down.

”Hi Harley! I’m Ned.” Ned held out his hand for Harley to shake.

”Hi Ned-“ Wait a minute. “Wait, are you Peter’s friend? Peter Parker?”

”Yeah! Wait you know Peter? Isn’t this your first day of school?”

”Uh,” Harley figured he can talk about the internship. It’s not like Peter has anything to hide, right? “I’m actually interning at Stark Industries for a few months, I met him there this weekend.”

”WOAH! That’s so cool! Did you-“

”Spreading lies to the new kid already?” A kid a few seats away from Harley and Ned yelled to them, overhearing their conversation. 

“What?” was the only thing Harley could say.

”Parker lies all the time about his internship, but convincing the new kid to join him? That’s pretty low. No wonder you’re already friends with the losers-“

”THOMPSON!” The teacher called from her desk. “If you yell like that again you get detention. No more warnings.”

That shut the kid up, and Harley couldn’t help but feel pleased.

”That’s Flash. Ignore him,” whispered Ned, who doesn’t seem to be phased by the outburst. “He annoys everybody.”

Harley was going to keep Flash on his mind for later.

* * *

Harley’s next class was shop, which took up two periods. After that, he had calculus with Peter. Peter and Harley may be pretty smart, but boy were they glad to have lunch right after their brains were fried for an hour. Peter spared Harley from the school food by insisting they get sandwiches from a deli called Delmar's that morning. The cafeteria looked pretty packed to Harley, but thankfully, Peter started to walk to a fairly empty table in the back. As they got closer, Harley could see Ned talking to a girl who's back was facing him and Peter. By their posture, it looked like as if they were trying to make sure no one else could overhear their conversation. When Ned saw them approach the table, his mood completely changed from serious to joyful.

"Hey guys!" Ned said enthusiastically, mostly looking at Harley. Peter greeted them and sat down next to Ned, leaving the open seat next to the girl for Harley, who hasn't looked at him yet.

"Oh, guys, this is Harley. He's gonna be interning at Stark tower for the next four months. Harley, this is Ned and MJ." Peter said after doing some weirdly long handshake with Ned.

"Yeah, we have English class together. Hey, where did you say you're from again?"

Harley took a bite out of his sandwich. "I didn't."

"He's from Tennessee'" said Peter.

"Damn, that's cool. I can kinda hear the accent, so I thought it was somewhere south." Ned opened his mouth to say something else, but his phone buzzed on the table and was interrupted. He looked at his screen and his eyes went wide. "Oh my god. Peter."

Peter looked over from his sandwich. "What?"

Ned showed Peter his phone screen and now Peter's eyes widened.

"NO WAY!" Harley watched confused as Peter and Ned frantically talked to each other, picking up the words 'Star Wars' and 'movie' or something like that. 

Nerds.

The only one at the table who wasn't phased by this was MJ, who had no food in front of her and was reading a thick novel instead. After another minute she finally said something.

"Thank god, I thought you were one of them," she said dully as she read her book.

Harley already liked her. He shook his head. "How do you deal with this every day?"

MJ sighed, "You kinda just accept it, really."

Harley looked at the book she was reading. "Is that Stephen King? Man, his books are great."

MJ finally looked up at Harley for a second and stuck out her hand. "I'm MJ."

"Harley." He shook her hand.

"HEY, PENIS!" The four of them looked up to see that Flash guy marching towards them with a couple bigger guys who Harley can only label as his 'goons'.

"The fuck did he just say?" Harley asked to no one in particular.

Peter looked at Harley, his face red. "Did you tell him about your internship?"

Harley still wasn't sure what was going on, but answered Peter anyway. "I told Ned in English and he kinda overheard. I think he called you a liar? He's kinda a douche, honestly."

"Great," Peter muttered to himself. Flash continued talking.

"Penis! I heard you got a new loser to spread lies with you. You know you just look more stupid, right?" Harley took in Flash's face, his smirk making him look more like an asshole.

Harley hates bullies. God, he hates them. Harley's had a fair share in his hometown, and he knows a bully when he sees one.

"You know what makes you look more stupid, Flash? Shouting 'penis' across the whole cafeteria."

Flash's smirked dropped for a second. When it came back, Harley knew he got him, because he saw anger behind Flash's eyes.

"Watch what you say, loser," said Flash. "You trying to protect your boyfriend? Is that it? You must be a whole new level of loser to date Penis Parker-"

"Hey Eugene, how 'bout you fuck off." MJ spoke up this time, and based off the look on Flash's face, Harley guessed Eugene was his real name.

Flash kept his attention on Harley. "So, how much did Parker here pay you to buy his "Stark Internship" lie? Oh wait, he wouldn't have any money to bribe you with."

"Harley, it's fine, just ignore him," whispered Peter, who was looking down to hide his face. Harley ignored him.

"Hey asshole, I am an intern actually, and so is Peter. You're wasting your precious time here."

Flash wasn't budging. The cafeteria had gone quiet and Harley knows they were watching. "Oh, really? Why would Iron Man hire a poor southern hick loser like you? Oh wait, you're probably sucking off Ton-"

Harley stood up and grabbed Flash by the collar. "Say that again, asshole!"

"Ooo, getting pretty close there. You hitting on me?" Flash smirked.

Harley's face started to grow hot. He didn't even noticed he curled his hand into a fist until Flash spoke again.

"What, you gonna punch me? Oh wait, you're too much of a pussy."

"BOYS! Separate right now or it's detention for both of you!" a teacher barked from the cafeteria door. It took a few seconds for Harley's temper, but he reluctantly let go of Flash's shirt and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I was just leaving," Harley said, eyes still on Flash. As he walked out, he noticed Peter, Ned, and MJ following him out, and everyone else's eyes following the four of them. 

* * *

When Peter and Harley made it back to the tower after school ended, Peter dropped off his stuff in his room and informed Harley (quite unsurely) that he was going to the gym. Which was fine by Harley. He didn't care where Peter was going. He needed alone time.

So much for the first day of school.

The lab was empty when Harley entered so he assumed Tony was out doing some Avenger shit. He sat down in his area where he was working on some projects for Tony, but he also liked to experiment himself. Distracting himself seemed to be the route Harley was choosing at the moment. He picked up tools and pieces of metal and followed the advice he gave Tony years ago.

_"Just build something."_

So he did. He tuned out everything but what he was working on, and it was quite nice. He didn't hear his phone buzz from the occasional twitter notification. He didn't notice when Tony walked in the grab something and walked back out. After a while, Harley stopped to look at what he was building. It was some kind of robot, and if you stare at it long enough it kinda looks like either a monkey or a weird bug. Harley was going to finish whatever he made, but then he noticed his phone buzzing like crazy.

Harley grabbed his phone, hoping it wasn't a serious emergency with Tony or Peter, or worse, his family at home. Instead he was getting frequent texts from a group chat of two unknown numbers and Peter.

 

 _You have been added to group_   ** _team night monkey_**

 **Unknown Number 1:**  But like is he ok?

 **Unknown Number 2:** dude idk, ask peter

 **Unknown Number 1:**  But like what if peter doesnt know either or what if hes with him then its just gonna be awkward...

 **Unknown Number 2:** dude

 **Unknown Number 2:** chill

 **Unknown Number 1:**  I mean he was pretty pissed at flash which i get but i hope hes ok, it seemed kind of personal by the look on his face

 **Unknown Number 1:** he was in a bad mood the rest of the day too

 **Harley:** guys im right here

 **Unknown Number 2:** oh

 **Unknown Number 1:** WHAT??

 **Unknown Number 1:** PETER WHEN DID YOU ADD HARLEY TO THIS CHAT???

 **Peter:** SORRY NED IT WAS LIKE A FEW MINUTES AGO

 **Peter:**  I wasn't paying attention and I forgot to add him so I did.

 **Harley:** oh

 **Harley:** well im fine guys

 **Harley:** but also fuck flash

 **Unknown Number 2:** rt

 **Harley:** you guys are ned and mj im guessing

 **Unknown Number 1:**  Yes I’m ned!

 **Unknown Number 2:** sure

 **Harley:** cool

 **Ned:**  Wait, MJ, dont you introduce yourself as Michelle?

 **MJ:** its cool. hes not a nerd like you two

 **Harley:** roasted

 **Ned:** :/

 **Harley:** peter are you back from the gym yet?

 **Ned:**  Peter started going to the gym?

 **Peter:**  Ned read my text

 **Ned:** OH yeah, the gym.

 **Ned:**  He goes to the gym all the time.

 **Ned:**  Yep.

 **Harley:** uh ok, cool i guess

 **Peter:**  But yeah I got back like twenty minutes ago, doing homework now.

 **Peter:**  Pepper said you should come up and eat dinner

 **Harley:** only if you showered

 **Peter:**  Har har

 **Peter:**  You have homework too y’know

 **Harley:** ugh fine

 

Harley looked at the time on his phone which read almost 7pm. _I really lost track of time_ , he thought. He looked at his almost completed mini-bot.

"Another day, my friend," Harley sighed, then he turned his lamp off and headed to the elevator.

* * *

**Hi everyone!!**

**I'm typing this up on 2-16-20, I know I know, way after I wrote this chapter.**

**I'm just here to say I AM planning to finish this story! I have not given up on it!!**

**I haven't updated any of my stories in a while, for many reasons. I've lost inspiration- I've never taken any writing classes so I'm trying my best on these fics, I just don't exactly know how I'm going to continue this story. It'll come to me eventually. It would be a great help if you comment any ideas you have below! Or, tweet me @seui_ _ _**

**Also, I'm in college now so I am very busy with homework and other stuff, so I'll work on these when I have time!**

**Thank you for not giving up on this! I appreciate all my readers and I really like this fic, I adore Harley so much and I just have the urge to give him more recognition that he deserves. I just want his fic to be good all the way through. And I'm thinking of making this a long one, I feel like theres so much Harley could be involved it, I just hadn't thought of it yet.**

**Take care! xoxo**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for another late update, writers block is a bitch, but i do have ideas for future chapters!! and i hope to bring more avengers in soon  
> if some of you are confused, yes FFH technically did happen due to the night monkey comment, but peter and mj didnt get together, she only found out his identity, and tonys alive blah blah blah  
> hope you enjoyed! ill try to make chapters longer from now on  
> and if you have any ideas or feedback, please comment!!! i always appreciate it :)


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